Schoolyards Need to Get Back to Nature

Premier Christy Clark has announced $8 million for upgrading school playgrounds. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if “upgrades” meant not more plastic slides and climbing things, but a wider vision of what the grounds for children’s play could involve?

What if schools were to sponsor nature-based play? That would mean play in meadows and woods, among bird feeders, tiny fish ponds, hollow logs and low labyrinths created by interesting shrubs.

What if schools used their grounds not just for recess and sports, but for tracking and counting migrating birds and nests?